Now that New Jersey has mandated cultural competency CME for docs practicing in that state, let the wild rumpus begin! First up, this article from AM News.
"You really don't teach people cultural competency in a classroom. You learn it in the lap of your grandmother," said S. Manzoor Abidi, MD, Medical Society of New Jersey president and a neurologist in Maple Shade, N.J. "We really oppose any mandatory-requirement bill."
Is CME the right place to learn this kind of thing? I tend to think, why not? If a doc wasn't fortunate enough to learn it at her mother's knee or some other joint (sorry, couldn't resist!), and she deals regularly with patients from different ethnicities, it can only help improve communications and, I would think, patient care, to know where they're coming from when it comes to healthcare issues.
